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An OX, a REINDEER and a couple of HORSES

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

It was another cold day today. 20ºF (-7ºC) at noon today! There’s nothing like a warm meal on a cold winter’s day. So it was the good old potato pirattal, spinach and sweet & sour tofu with rice today.

It was a busy weekend! Kicking off the weekend was my baking fest – well, just me – getting ready for our Chinese New Year potluck dinner on Saturday night. We were invited by our Singaporean Chinese friends to usher in the Year of the Ox. So instead of cooking something I normally cook, I decided that I would try out some Singaporean dessert recipes – what better time would there be anyway! So the 3 victims?

Pandan Chiffon Cake Kueh Lapis (Layered Cake)

Pandan Kaya Cake

The verdict? The chiffon cake turned out pretty well except for the slightly Halloween look. It tasted good! The layered cake tasted right but didn’t look right – I couldn’t quite get the layers going. The Pandan Kaya cake – too rich! So I still have a piece of the Kaya cake in my fridge while the rest was wiped out 😀

Enough said about the cakes. We had a pretty nice time at the dinner. It was really nice and comforting having some Singaporean food, and lah-ing away in some good, old Singlish (Singapore English). The little munchkin ofcourse had a great time racing around the room we had our dinner in with the other kids. Even the oldies had some fun taking turns at pool, foosball, table tennis and air hockey.

The fathers having their fun 🙂

Check out my Incredible Hulk cake in the top of the 2nd picture

Everyone doing the “Low Hei”

On Sunday, after having lunch with some friends, some of us decided to head off for some sledding with the kiddos. There wasn’t as much snow on this hill as there was last year but we still had a lot of fun. The kind reindeer daddies dragged the kids up the hill and zoomed down many times – while the mummies came down the hill a couple of times with the kids too.

The munchkin and her nemesis 🙂 3 of us 🙂

Since we came back so late on Sunday, we couldn’t go for the walk I had promised Divya. She’s been wanting to go and see the “horsies”. So the “really smart” me decided to take her on Monday for a walk in the afternoon. With the glorious blue skies and the sun shining, can you blame me? It turns out – it was about 22ºF (for my Singaporean friends, that’s -6ºC, YES! NEGATIVE!) The walk started out wonderfully. Although possibly a little cold, Divya still stopped to smell the roses beat the snow off the bushes and even pose for me. Once we reached the horses’ enclosure, I really started to believe that it was our lucky day! The kind horses actually made the effort to amble over to us – possibly hoping that we had brought them some snacks in this cold weather. Divya definitely has an affinity for animals.

She whispered to this horse……(can you see her at the side?)

And this is what happened 🙂 [my own little horse whisperer]. I whispered to the same horse………

and this is what happened…..

It’s a little over-exposed, but can you see that little figure standing by the fence?

The tips of our fingers were beginning to fall off, so as the responsible person in this relationship, I decided that we should start taking that walk back. The journey was very slow, but we were getting there. I was thinking to myself how lucky it was that I had decided to wear my warm cotton tights under my track pants, mentally congratulating the Fruit of the Loom team for coming up with such a perfect design and gently prodding Divya along and suddenly, plop! I was on my knees and hands checking out the paved path! Quickly trying to untangle the laces of one shoe that had gotten stuck on the other while glancing around for any witnesses, then tying the laces up again and putting my gloves back on, I was convinced that not a soul, except that squirrel on the grass, had seen what happened. So, standing up proud and cool, and refusing to check the condition of my knees, I was about to continue the walk when Divya suddenly shouted out “Oh No! Amma fall down!” Yes! Bad English and all. And one thing that girl isn’t, is quiet. She even needs to shout out her numbers when she counts from 1 to 10. So just imagine her volume. I think it was a delayed shock! But then, she ran over, kissed my leg and said “All better!” Now, how could your heart not melt? I said to her “Thank you” and then we headed back home at a quick speed, with my hood now on (Hey! I had to conceal my identity at all costs!)

A day later, with 2 scraped knees, a sore right knee and back, I’m doing ok. It was still a wonderful walk – Divya was thrilled she could touch the horse’s nose.

Hi Bavani. Looks like you have been busy in the kitchen! (I haven’t been in the mood since summer started! ha! Ha!). Must try out the kuih lapis (my kids just love peeling of the layers when they have this one…) Sorry to hear about your fall. Take it easy 🙂 ♥